Open Mithqal Standard

The Dinar is the Mithqal and the Mithqal is 72 Grains of Barley. The Open Mithqal Standard is a standard for determining the weight and measure of modern Dirhams and Dinars. The standard is also known as the Nabawi standard as it seeks to more closely replicate the Dirham and Dinar coins used by the Muslims during the time of the Messenger and the Salaf us Saalih, the Byzantine Solidus and the Greek Drakhma.

1 Dirham = 3.11 grams (1/10th Troy Ounce) of 999 (Fine) Silver 1 Dinar = 4.44 grams (1/7th Troy Ounce) of 9999 (24ct) Gold. A defining characteristic of OMS is that it is a collaborative standard, developed by co-operating local mints, with emphasis on WAQF OWNERSHIP of the production process which delivers low operational costs and quick diversification. OMS does not specify any sizes for coins as these dimensions are left up to the local

mint to decide. Local Mints can optimise production by keeping diameters uniform while changing thickness to produce another denomination. It should be noted that OMS is a Standard and we in no way are asserting that it is THE standard, i.e there are other standards as well who have merrit. Mints should choose the standard which best meets the requirements of their people. The standard and the production process is open and transparent. The aim is to make Dirham and Dinar production as ubiquitous as possible, in so doing, to promote the use of Bimetalic coins for saving, trading, dowry, zakaat etc. ISNET does not however see the return to Silver and Gold as its primary purpose, rather the coins form part of a larger self sufficiency project, realised in the Muslim Village, a faith based eco-village initiative. History OMS was developed primarily by Ahmed Adjie, Abbas Firman, Hayan Waruk ( from Islamic Mint Nusantra IMN in Indonesia) in collaboration with Prof Tariq Khan, Hajj Abdurahmaan Phillips and Mogamat Abrahams in South Africa, circa July 2010. Although sidi Ahmed and Abbas were responsible for the minting of the first Dinars and Dirhams in Nusantra (Malaysia/Indonesia archipelego) during the late 1990s to the World Islamic Mint - WIM standard, as well as developing the first privately owned production process for Dirham and Dinar, their insistence on maintaining the independence of the Islamic Mint Nusantra IMN, lead to them parting ways with the WIM organisation, which insisted on centralised manufacture, in all cases outsourced to third parties, leading to increased costs. WIM had also endorsed an alternate, competing manufacturer, Wakala Induk Nusantra WIN, which outsourced production to Logum Mulia resulting in huge (120%) mark ups to cover costs in some instances. Coupled to this was the insistence of WIM that all other mints follow their political governance structures to receive approval for their coins, an untenable situation for most. IMN continued production to the WIM standard, as the Dirham and Dinar belong to Islam and the Muslims and not to any one organisation. Umar Vadillo, the head of WIM, eventually publicly labelled Firman a fraud and impostor for making Dirhams an Dinars without authorisation, with WIN eventually laying charges of fraud against people attempting to use Dirhams and Dinars minted by INM, even though they complied to the WIM standard. South African Involvement.

First test pressings of copper blanks.

ISNET was at this very time engaged in an effort to manufacture Dirhams and Dinars locally. Although WIM as the initial promoters of the return to Dirham and Dinar had been resident in Cape Town for over 10 years, not much, aside from Marketing, had been done in South Africa.

Frustrated at the lack of availability of coins, high prices and the generally exclusive, unco-operative nature of the South African WIM representatives, we had decided to mint our own coins to the WIM standard. However seeing the exchange between Vadillo and Firman, along with bitter lessons from historical dealings with Vadillo et al and WIM in general, we decided against this. We subsequently came to learn much about the organisation, which vindicated our decision to have a fresh look at the standard. While WIM had pioneered and championed the cause of the Dinar and Dirham internationally, they had strangely embarked on a model which we considered impractical. Deficiencies in the WIM strategy. Both WIM and WIN do not own ANY production capability, yet their stated aim is to bring about an economic revolution against Capitalism, whilst their primary amunition, the Dirham and Dinar, are manufactured by the very capitalists they are fighting against? We also found that the price of Gold Dinars where marked up by as much as 25% over spot price, and Dirhams as much as 125% over the spot price of the metal, an untenable situation, especially where the poor are concerned. Insistence on owning the Dies and hence controlling production limits uptake and diversification. Centralised production increases cost of the coins : Manufacturing costs and Shipping costs greatly increase markup required. Centralised valuation of coins limits redeemability i.e coins bought in one territory is usually redeemed for much less in another territory and vice versa.

Early WIM dinar and dirham

Lack of oversight of the world standard provides room for abuse given the secretive nature of WIM operations. Autocratic decision making and rejection of alternate knowledge an inhibitor to participation. Insistence as to the correctness of the WIM interpretation stifles the expansion of knowledge in the field. WIM takes a 1% royalty from the production costs of all subscribing mints. Commercial model based on profit incentive for mint, master wakala (distributor) and Wakala Retail Agency E-Dinar an electronic dinar clearing house, offers a dinar backed electronic unit for savings and international trade. Paper money also started as a gold backed unit and eventually became entirely free floating, today no longer backed by any tangible assets. There is a danger that the acceptance of the EDinar could leave Muslims in a similar situation, or in the case of a major conflict, loosing all their gold stored in the Dubai based vault. Differences

First OMS Dirham pressed in the world!

OMS Dinar = 4.44 grams of 24ct Gold (999), while the WIM Dinar = 4.25gram of 22ct (917) gold. OMS Dirham = 3.11 grams of 999 Silver, while the WIM Dirham = 2.975 grams of 999 Silver. Weight Al-Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun said 1 DINAR = 1 MITHQAL Weight of 1 MITHQAL = 72 grains Barley cut We decided to go back to the grains instead of the looking at centuries old Coins minted from the fourth Generation onwards. EXPERIMENT Done Saturday, 12 Safar 1432H / 16 January 2011 Weighing 72 grains Barley cut. RESULT 1 MITHQAL between 4,377 grams 4,566 grams, Median weight = 4,467 grams The lowest weight (4,377 gram) due to too much cut From weighing, the result of weight brought to relation with TROY OUNCE which 72 grains Barley cut equal to 1/7 TROY OUNCE. So it is concluded that 1 TROY OUNCE = 7 MITHQAL 7 MITHQAL = 1 TROY OUNCE 1 MITHQAL = 31,1034768 GRAM / 7 1 MITHQAL = 4,443353828571429 GRAM Note 1 TROY OUNCE = 480 GRAINS uncut 7 * 72 Grains Cut = 480 Grains uncut 504 Grains cut = 480 Grains uncut Then DIRHAM: 1 TROY OUNCE = 10 DIRHAM 1 DIRHAM = 3,11034768 GRAM

While the carat according to 4 Madh-hab that dzahab dan fidhdhah is pure gold and pure silver to be used for nisab zakat. As mentioned by Imam Malik in Muwatta that pure gold (kholis) and pure silver (kholis) is expected as the best for ummah (current WIM and WIN dinar are 22ct not 24ct) Therefore NISAB ZAKAT DZAHAB (gold) and NISAB ZAKAT FIDHDHAH (silver) in GRAMs will be: NISAB EMAS = 20 DINAR = 88,86707657142857 GRAMs Pure Gold NISAB PERAK = 200 DIRHAM = 622,069536 GRAMs Pure Silver (Allammah Abdurrahman bin Muhammad Ad-Dimasyqi, Fiqih Four Madh-hab) as spoken Imam Hanafi (Kitab Fiqih Hanafi, Bab Zakat Emas, p. 119) and Imam Syafii (Kitab Al-Umm, Vol. 2, p. 40). Imam Syafii added: for coin not pure gold will be mentioned as nuqd and not dinar! Purity Our view is that the first generations of Muslims intended to produce the purest gold and silver for use in coinage, using the limited technology they had at the time. Similarly we should keep the same niyyah, instead of purposefully debasing the metalfor longevity purposes. Also coins can be made mechanically stronger by altering the thickness and reducing the diameter, doing away with the argument that 24ct coins are not durable enough. Coins that fall below the weight standard must be melted and re issued.

Proposed 24ct Gold Dinar - IMN

After a rather lengthy exchange and dialogue regarding the purity of the Dinar, we praise and thank Allah, and welcome the WIM decision to mint their Dinar in 990 Gold, although this new standard has not yet taken effect nor been publicly announced. Please also see Dr Meeras work on the subject. Size Although there existed no uniform size w.r.t Dirhams and Dinars (technology was primitive, coins were primarily evaluated on weight i.e coins were generally weighed and not counted for trade) we saw an opportunity to optimise production by making use of varying thickness coins to produce a 2 Dirham, 5 Dirham or 10 Dirham coin. The most expensive part of the production is the tooling and its more expensive to develop tooling for differing diameter blanks than to adjust the thickness of the rollers making the plates. In South Africa we decided on 19.5 mm diameter * 1mm thick * 999 Silver = 3.11grams.

Process
Mints should ideally own and develop their own tooling for production. This will enable lower costs and enable mints to diversify production to subsidise the cost of the basic coins. Our process is quite simple.

Raw silver of the required grade is melted into ingots producing rough, rectangular bars. Bars are then cold rolled into plates, to achieve the required thickness and width, in our case 24mm wide x 1.1mm thick x 30cm length. Plates are then annealed to soften them. Plates are fed into a blanking tool, fitted to a press, which punches out rounds (blank coins, also called blanks or rounds).

Hajji Abdullah Waggie blanking some Dirhams

Rounds are polished, ready to be struck (alternately plates can be polished, but this requires increased care in handling as they can scratch) Rounds are inserted into the press tool, where the pattern is struck onto the coin. Coins are assayed for the correct weight, finish etc. Equipment You will need (See ISNET Implementation for our budget expenditure comming soon): Melting Burner and Casting Ingots. Precision Roller 3-6 Tonne Press either a Fly Press or Eccentric Press Micrometer Precision Digital Scale Polishing Motor and Polishing buffs + Compounds Pressing Tool (this goes in the press) Blanking Tool (this goes in the press) Shears or Guillotine Operational Model The mint is setup as a Waqf i.e a charitable trust/endowment for the benefit of mankind. There exists some loss in the process due to metal loss at melting, polishing and processing as well as errors in manufacture.

These losses should be absorbed by the mint and donors sought to fund this gap. Alternately the mint could produce other products, to be sold at a profit, to fund this loss. At most a markup of 5-10% should be added to account for labour, electricity costs. However volunteers should be sought and trained for this excellent duty which is a sadaqa to humanity.